Intellectual Ventures, Lions Gate: Intellectual Property

Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Intellectual Ventures Management
LLC, led by a former chief technology officer of Microsoft
Corp., is seeking $3 billion for a fund that would give it
steady cash flow from patents and invention rights, according to
an investor presentation obtained by Bloomberg News.

Invention Investment Fund III will purchase patents, patent
licensing rights and applications as well as other invention
rights, according to the April presentation from the Bellevue,
Washington-based firm. The firm, founded in 2000, has
historically made some of its money from suing over patent
infringements.

Mercury Capital Advisors LLC, an advisory firm that helps
firms raise money from institutional investors, is the fund’s
placement agent. Kyle Mahoney, a spokesman for Intellectual
Ventures, declined to comment on the fundraising.

Intellectual Ventures is among a growing number of
investment firms seeking to take advantage of investor appetite
for predictable cash flow. Last week, Harbert Management Corp.
announced a separate account with California Public Employees’
Retirement System, the largest U.S. pension fund, that will
provide cash distributions from contracts to sell power plants’
capacity and energy.

Intellectual Ventures was founded by Nathan Myhrvold,
former chief strategist and chief technology officer at
Microsoft, along with Edward Jung, Greg Gorder and Peter Detkin.

Jung, who is Intellectual Ventures’ CTO, was previously
chief software architect and adviser to executive staff at
Microsoft. Gorder was a partner at law firm Perkins Coie LLP.

Detkin, who was a vice president and assistant general
counsel at Intel Corp, is credited with coining the phrase
“patent troll” to describe patent holders who do not make
products or provide services covered by the patents they seek to
enforce.

Like previous funds, the firm’s new offering will primarily
make investments in technology invention rights. The firm makes
its money from legal settlements, strategic sales of portfolios,
retail licensing and subscription-based licensing, according to
the presentation. This year, it has brought lawsuits for patent
infringement against several companies, including HSBC Holdings
Plc, SunTrust Bank Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Motorola Mobility
Holdings LLC and Toshiba Corp.

Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corp. this year led a group
of companies that bought license rights to Kodak’s digital-imaging portfolio for $527 million. Kodak used the proceeds to
pay off bankruptcy debt.

For more patent news, click here.

Trademark

Chinese Applicant for ‘Tesla’ Also Seeks Other Companies’ Marks

The Chinese citizen who is seeking to register “Tesla”
trademarks in his country has also tried to register trademarks
associated with three other non-Chinese companies, International
Business Times reported.

Zhan Baosheng, who is claiming he will build an electric-powered car, has also registered “Loremo,” “Cobasys” and
“Cuill,” according to the newspaper.

Loremo was a German automaker. Cobasys LLC is a U.S.
company that makes nickel metal batteries, and the now-defunct
Cuill was a company some ex-employees of Google Inc. started in
2008, according to International Business Times.

Palo Alto, California-based Tesla Motors Inc. is opposing
the Chinese applications of Zhan, who has a Chinese-language
website with a photo of an electric car and the phrase “Tesla,
live for Electricity,” the newspaper reported.

Apple Seeks to Register ‘Startup’ as Australian Trademark

Apple Inc., maker of the iPhone and iPod, has applied to
register “startup” as a trademark in Australia, according to
IP Australia’s database of pending applications.

The Cupertino, California-based company said it plans to
use the mark for retail store services; computer maintenance and
repair; computer-related educational services; and the design
and development of computer hardware and software.

The application is presently under examination, according
to IP Australia. Apple also filed an application with the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office to register the term for a range of
uses similar to those outlined in the Australian application.

More than 30 other applications have been filed in
Australia to register some form of “startup.” Most include a
hyphen in the word, or use the word in combination with others,
such as “SBYR startup your business right,” which is owned by
an Australian company and used with computer software.

For more trademark news, click here.

Copyright

Lions Gate, Tyler Perry Win Dismissal of ‘Good Deeds’ Suit

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and a production company
belonging to performer Tyler Perry persuaded a federal court to
dismiss a copyright infringement case related to Perry’s “Good
Deeds” film.

Terry Donald of Philadelphia filed the suit in November
2012, claiming the film infringed the copyrights to her book
“Bad Apples Can Be Good Fruit.” She said she had sent a copy
of the book to the defendants for “review and consideration”
and never entered into any agreement with them for any rights to
the book.

The film was so similar to the book, she claimed that it
infringed her copyright. She sought money damages, and a court
order requiring the inclusion in the credits “Based upon the
novel ‘Bad Apples Can be Good Fruit’ by Terry V. Donald.”

The suit was filed in Philadelphia and transferred to a
federal court in New York in March.

U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley dismissed the case
Aug. 21 on the defendants’ request for a judgment based on court
filings.

The case is Terry V. Donald v. The Tyler Perry Co., 1:13-cv-01655-WHP, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
(Manhattan).

Demand Media’s Cracked Fights Alleged Infringement With Satire

Demand Media Inc.’s Cracked.com humor website responded to
what it said was a British tabloid’s use of its content without
permission by posting a so-called “sincere apology.”

Cracked claimed that the U.K.’s Daily Mail ran a story
“World’s Worst Tourists Revealed” that was a “carbon copy”
of “5 Tourists Who Managed to Be the Worst People in the
World,” it had published the day before the Daily Mail’s story.

In its “apology,” Cracked.com said the reason the similar
stories appeared is that “once in a blue moon” it finds that
one of its writers does some space-time travel, steals an
article from the future and passes it off as his own in the
present.

Then Cracked went on to say that as the result of this
event, its editorial writers are now barred from “using their
Time-Lord abilities to assist in the research or writing of
articles. Otherwise, our site would just be a laundry list of
tomorrow’s lotto numbers and excerpts from William Shakespeare’s
upcoming play.”

UMG Unit Sued Over Website’s Alleged Use of Tupac Shakur Photo

Universal Music Group Inc.’s G-Unit Records unit was sued
for copyright infringement by a New York-based photographer.

The suit is related to the alleged unauthorized use of a
photo of the late Tupac Shakur on the ThisIs50.com website
associated with performer 50 Cent. The website focuses on hip-hop music and performers.

Gary Miller said the website used his photo of Shakur
following the 1994 attempt on Shakur’s life. In that photo, the
performer, bandaged and in the process of being loaded into an
ambulance, is making an obscene gesture that Miller
characterized in his pleading as “a characteristic display of
defiance.”

The photographer claims that despite his sending G-Unit
repeated cease-and-desist notices, the photo remains on the
website without permission.

In March 2013 Miller filed a similar suit against Global
Grind Digital Inc. of New York, also an operator of a hip-hop
themed website. That case settled for undisclosed terms on June
17, according to a case filing.

In the new suit, Miller asked the court for money damages,
a court order barring unauthorized use of his image, and for
awards of litigation costs and attorney fees.

The new suit is Gary Miller v. G-Unit Records Inc., 1:13-cv-06075, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
(Manhattan). The earlier suit is Miller v. Global Grind Digital
Inc., 1:13-cv-01737-ALC-FM, U.S. District Court, Southern
District of New York (Manhattan).